Identity Project

It’s been a few days/weeks/months since I’ve posted on this blog, and things have changed almost beyond recognition since then! I’ve gotten engaged (more on that later) and managed to land a job as an actual web designer for Lynden Inc., but the most exciting piece of news for me is that I will be graduating at the end of this semester! Consequently, it’s time for me to further develop my professional identity and start dedicating much more time to updating my social media accounts (including this blog…). One of the steps I’m taking is a senior class, Advanced Visual Media, and the first and most exciting project we could have been given is to create a new logo for ourselves! Ever since the rebranding of my website, I’ve been struggling to come up with new ideas for a logo. That didn’t change once I had an actual assignment in hand.

As you can see, I filled up at least four sketchbook pages with attempts at coming up with a new logo for myself. I’ve dabbled with creating a professional icon for myself since I seem to be so bad at taking professional quality headshots of myself.

These two vector portraits of myself were a great way to stretch my vector illustration skills while also coming up with temporary icons for projects I was pursuing at the time, but the longer I went with having these as icons, the more I got sick of them! I was encouraged to still go with the idea of having some iconic representation of myself, but I thought it was time to go a little more zany.

While struggling to come up with ideas, I found myself doodling cute astronauts and aliens, much like I had been while brainstorming for the Gig Poster project. With this came the revelation that if you’re starting your own graphic design business, you don’t necessarily have to be yourself… and thus came the inspiration for a web design business that was focused on exploration and bringing other people along for the ride! I’ve been trying to expand my site by adding tutorials and examples in hopes of establishing some sort of niche for myself, so why couldn’t I further carve that out by creating a new, fun logo?

Thanks to the recent redesign of my website, the color palette was already established. From there, it was just a matter of tracing my previous drawings and trying to make my little astronaut into the cutest possible incarnation of herself. Early on, I ditched the idea of the singular antenna sprouting from her helmet after one reviewer told me she looked more like a bug than an astronaut! From there, it was mostly refining colors, changing the size of the elements on her face, and trying to make it more obvious that she’s inside a helmet and that she isn’t actually the helmet itself! I ended up refining the colors again, as well as fixing some lines and tangent points and removing the cowl at the bottom of her helmet.

After another round of feedback, it was determined that I was close to being finished, but I wasn’t quite done yet! I still had some awkward tangents to fix, and the colors seemed so… dark! I consulted with a classmate and she pointed out the flaws I had left.

I used my Surface and the mouse to record some hasty notes, including the tangent with the glasses, the awkward curve of her eyebrows, the few remaining lines left around her eyeballs, and the lack of smoothness around her face.

The finished project is a relatively simple brandmark, with nice thick lines, only 4 different colors, and the cutest smile you’ve ever seen an astronaut wear! I’m looking forward to using this brandmark across my social media accounts, as well as printing it on business cards and finding ways to implement it on my website!

Thanks for reading, as always! I am so grateful for your support, and I look forward to keeping you updated on my progress!